Milling and the like machine tool



July 14, 1953 T. F. ESERKALN 2,645,163

MILLING AND THE LIKE MACHINE.TOOL

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July 14, 1953 'r. F. ES ERKALN MILLING AND THE LIKE MACHINE TOOL 17 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Aug. 30. 1948 July 14, 1953 T. F. ESERKALN MILLING AND THE LIKE MACHINE TOOL l7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Aug. 30. 1948 NN ON MN I W A NQ L Q5 8 v W3 SQ E N. a@ NN -N a N\ MmS Q 8 a m m U Q. N. l a I W b I, y fl md w 7 u I M M m u y 1953 T. F. ESERKALN 2,645,163

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MILLING AND THE LIKE MACHINE TOOL Filed Aug. 30. 1948 I 17 Sheets-Sheet l2 July 14, 1953 T. F. ESERKALN ,64 ,1

MILLING AND THE LIKE MACHINE.TO0L

Filed Aug. 30. 1948 17 Sheets-Sheet 13 Y Q4 N N 0% I.

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July 14, 1953 T. F. ESERKALN 2,645,163

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July 14, 1953 'r. F. ESERKALN 2,645,163

' MILLING AND THE LIKE MACHINE TOOL 1'7 Sheets-Sheet 17 Filed Aug. 30. 1948 mmuunmmmrum Hillmllllll I V I.

SUJ r" 1 inafter appended claims.

j -My invention is directed primarily to machine tools of the so called knee types in which a vertically movable knee mounts thereon a slide or saddle for horizontal cross movementstrans- Patented July 14, 1953" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MILLING AND THE LIKE MACHINE TOOL Theodore FrEserkaln, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignor to George Gorton Machine .00., Racine, Wis.,

a corporation of Wisconsin Application August 30, 1948, Serial No. 46,808

"This invention relates to machine tools and particularly to such tools as exemplifiedby the general milling machine types; and the nature and, objects of the invention will be readily'recognized and understood by those skilled in the arts involved in thelight of the following explanation and detailed description of the accompanying drawings illustrating what I ,now believeito be the preferred embodiments or me-' chanical expressions of my invention and of the variousfeaturesthereof, from among numerous other forms, expressions, embodiments, arrangements designs, constructions, combinations and modifications of which the invention and its various features are capable within, the broad :spirit and scope thereof as defined 'b ythelhereversely or in and out relative tothemachine,

[and such saddle mounts a work table for horizontal movements thereon longitudinally or left and right of the machine along a path perpendicular to the path of cross or in and f"out gmovement of the saddle with the work table, so that, the work table is movable vertically and is also movable universallyllaterally in a horizontal planey and the invention. is particularly concerned WithySllch knee types, of machine tools in which the knee, saddle and table arep'ower fed or driven by selectively operable,

variable speed drives. ,A general object of the invention is to subarrangement. of suchfla knee, saddle anduwork table assembly and offzthe various components thereof, and particularly such an assembly of the power'fed or driven types, in order toincrease operating efficiency as wellas to increase I efficiency from the s'tandpoints of construction,

assembly and 'maintenance.

power-fed knee, saddle and work table assembly,

- i with improved designs and constructions of hand feeds for selectively manually feeding the knee,

saddle and table when the power feeds are'disengaged or inactive; and further toprovide efficient and positive acting interlocking mecha -n isms between the power feeds and the hand :feeds to;insur'e against operatively engaging the hand feeds when the power feeds are engaged. l, Afurther general object is to provide aepower I ted knee, saddle and table assembly of extreme r 14 Claims.

- compactness, and of such a design and arrange- .-ment that major components of the feeds are Stantially improve the design, constructionsand Another general object is to provide such a :tio o cd flect on uc pat removable and replaceable independently as units without requiring major take down .of the knee, saddle and table assembly; and fur-v ther to provide self-acting coupling connections for such removable components by which they are counlediand ,nnco'u d from per t 6 gagement v ith, their associated mechanisms i automatically and solely by the acts of positioning such components in or removing'them from mounted operative position injthe knee,

saddle and table assembly Qne particular object of'the invention is to pro ide. imp e design, n uc n and arrangement of a (machine tool knee of the. wide type which willhecapable of efficiently ,mounting' andsubstantially enclosing therewithin power driven feeds-and change speedcomponents thereof for the knee, saddle and table,

and will also provide forthe eficient location I and mounting thereon or a motor for such power driven feeds so as to form an assembly of such knee and feeds with the motor as a self-contam d i r a Another object is to design and construct such a wide type of knee with the top or upper side,

structure formed to provide an efficient arrange- ;ment.of widely spaced, horizontally disposed sup porting and bearing surfaces for s'lidably mount- .ing a worktable-carrying saddleon-therknee in such ;a manner as -to give maximum rigidity and t b lity to the saddl d t t e c d thereby, while constraining thesaddle to a precise path of crossor finf and out movements on the knee w t m nima ss i y i p a or. deviation of the knee from ,f'urtherbbiect is to provide i a a an }ment of Widely spaced, longitudinal bearingsurfaces for a slide member, for lateral or side bearing surfaces at opposite sides of one of thelongie tudina l, bearing surfaces spaced apart a small distance relative to the length thereof to form with the longitudinal surface a narrow .guide and obtain a bearing for the slide member having-a high degree-of stability;

' YA-nd afurther' object is to obtain a stable bearing for slidably mounting a slide member by utilizing a :bearing surface arrangement designed and arranged to form a narrow guide for the slide member; l

fAnotherlobiect of the invention is to provide improved knee-mounted and contained power and manual drives for selectively feeding: the

knee, saddle and table, respectively, and further to provide an improved mounting and arrange ment of such drives on and within the knee so as to form with the knee a vertically movable self-contained unit.

Another object is to provide animproved design and construction of saddle and of the slidable mounting thereof forcross or in and out feeding of the saddleon the knee.

A further object is to provide an improved and efiicient design and construction of work table and of the slidable mounting thereof for longitudinal feeding of the work table on and independently of the saddle.

Another object is to improve thedesign, construction and mounting of the cross or saddle feed screw on the knee and of the construction and mounting of the cross feed screw nut on the saddle.

Another object is to improve the dBSlg-ILCOD- struction and mounting of the longitudinal or table feed screw on the work table and of the construction of the adjustable feed screw engaging nut and the mounting thereof on the saddle, for causing longitudinal feed of the work table on-andindependently of the saddle by rotation of the table feed screw. v

Another object is to provide an improved arrangement and mounting on such a power fed knee, saddle and table assembly, of the manually operable controls for selective operation of the power feeds and of the speed changing components thereof, which will'locate such controls 'at conveniently accessible and readily visible points to the operator on the knee,'saddle and convenient to certain positionstaken by an operator in performing work with a machine.

A further object is to provide a change speed and rapid traverse gear organization as a component of the knee, saddle and table feeds or drives and through which the knee, saddle and table may be fed at selected speeds, together with operator controlled selector mechanism, with such change speed gearorganization and selector mechanism formed as a self-contained assembly or unit which may be mounted in and removed from operative unit.

position within the knee as a Another objectis to provide a design .and ar rangement of such a change speed gear organization and selector mechanism unit for removable mounting in a knee as a component of the knee,

saddle and feed drives or feeds, by which the unit can be removedfrom and replaced into operative position in the knee through the front or forward side of the knee without requiring the removal from the knee of those of the manual controls for the feeds which are located at a side or sides of the knee.

A further object is to provide a design and arrangement of knee and a change speed gear and selector mechanism unit removably mounted therein for removal and replacement through tudinal or table feed screw can be table assembly, and which will permit of duplication of certain of such controls at remote points ciated structure, removable and replaceable with said front plate as a unit assembly from and to operative position mounted on and closing the forward side of the knee. a

Another object is to provide an efiicient design and arrangement of change speed gear organiza'- tion to include a rapid traverse gear train and controlling clutches for the longitudinal or table feed'screw together with simple and positive acting selective gear shifting mechanisms under the control of a selector mechanism for setting up;

the organization for a selected speed.

A further object is to provide an improved and efiicient selector mechanism for the change speed gear organization together with a simple and efficient feed dial and selector hand crank arrangement for selectively operating the selector mechanism and visually indicating by said dial the selected feed.

A further object is to provide'an interlock between the rapid traverse gear train and the change speed gear trains of the knee, saddle and table in such a change speed gear organization, so that the feed trains are automatically disengaged when the rapid traverse clutch is operated to engage the rapid traverse gear train and are re engaged when the rapid traverse clutch is disengaged.

' Another object is to provide a design and ar-' rangement of a knee,.saddle and'table assembly with power and manual-drives or feeds therefor, in which the cross feed or saddle actuating screw and the'primary drive shaft of the longi v readily removed from and replacedthrough the front wall of the knee without removing such front wall and independently of other mechanism directly associatedwith said cross and longitudinal feed screws and/ or mounted in the knee, in order that the saddle may be removedfrom the knee without opening the knee proper and/or removing knee mounted and associated mechanisms.

A further'object is to provide an improved construction, mounting and arrangement of the longitudinal or worktable feed screw and a saddle mounted drive shaft adjacent and parallel; with the feed screw by which no caps are're-T quired for the mounting of the feed-screw in this drive shaft.

I A further object is to provide an improved de; sign and construction of and mounting arrange- .ment for the cross feed screw nut in order to eliminate or reduce to a minimum, shear stress on the cross feednut hand screw.

Another object is to so design and mount the cross feed or saddle screw nut that such nut can.

be dropped from the saddle in such a manner that it will not be necessary to 'removethe cross feed screw from the knee when it is desired to remove the saddle from the: knee;

Afurther object is to' so design, construct and v mount the cross feed screw nut on the saddle}.

that diiiiculties caused by the eccentric thrust'of the cross feed screw are eliminated.

Another object is'to provide a design and arrangement of hand lever and operating linkage I actuated thereby for operating the rapid traverse gear train clutch of the change speed gear orgam'zationunit, by which the loaded and continuously biased gaged position, so that, the operator will be required to hold the rapid traverse lever in clutch engaged position against such gravity loading; and a further object in this connection is to so design the rapid traverse operating clutch link,-

clutch is gravity to clutch disenconstruction of parts and elements, and in variouscombinations and sub-combinations thereof, all as will be more fullyreferred to hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which similar reference characters refer to corresponding partsand elements throughout the several figures thereoff Fig. 1 is a View in front elevation of a knee, saddle and table assembly of my invention embodied in a design of milling machine of the hori-' zontal spindle type.

Fig. 2. is a top plan view' of the casting constitutingthe basic structure of the knee, the front plate forming the. forward or front wall of the knee having beenremove'd.

Fig. 3' is a view in side elevation of the right handside ofthe knee casting structure of Fig. 2.

Fig. 3a is a vertical transverse section taken as on the line 3a3a of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view in side elevation ,of the left hand side of the knee, saddle and table assembly of the machine of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a View in side elevation of the right hand side of the knee,' saddle and table assembly.

Fig. 6 is aview in front elevationsof the knee,

3 the saddleand work table having been removed.

Fig; 7 is a view in vertical section taken along knee,saddle and work table.

Fig. 8 is a view in horizontal section through I the knee taken as on the'line'8'8 of Fig. '2.

3 Fig: 9 is a vertical transverse section taken as on the line 9 -9 of Fig. 4.

,Fig. 10 a perspective View, more or less diagrammatic of the change speed and rapid traverse gear trains, the speed selection mechanism and the rapid traverse control, the knee, saddle and table feeds driven therefrom, together with the selected controls for such feeds; all of the parts and elements beingshown as though separated and pulled apart-but maintained in their general positions relative to and for operative associa tionwith each other.

Fig. 11 is a view in top' plan of the saddle with the table removed but'with the table feed screw being shown.

Fig lz is a vertical transverse section taken through the saddle ason the line i2i 2 of Fig. 11. I Fig. 13 isa vertical transverse section through 1 thereto, the unit being shown in mounted position in the knee with a portion only of the knee structure being shown.

Fig. 17 is a vertical transverse section through the removable feed unit taken as on the line l'I|"|.-o;f Fig. 16.

F-ig.-1-8' is a horizontal cross section through "Fig. '19is a vertical section taken as on the line Iii-l9 of Fig. 18. e I

Fig. 20 is a detailed verticalsection taken as on the line 2U2ll of Fig. 18.

Fig. 21 is a detailed view in side elevation of the cam disc with the cam groove therein of the feed selector mechanism, the cam shaft and cam groovefollowers being shown in vertical transverse section.

Fig. 22 is a view in top plan of the feed disbly, table feed screw hand wheel andinterlock the longitudinal center of the knee, through the at the left hand end of the table.

Fig. 25 is a detailed vertical section through the right hand end portion of. the work table showing the right hand end of the table feed screw and the bearing assembly therefor.

A form of a power fed knee, saddle and table and the associated feeds and controls therefor, providing a self-contained assembly in accordance with and embodying my present invention, has been selected and is illustrated herewith purely by way of example, as applied to and forming components of a milling machine of the horizontal spindle type. However, my invention is in noWiSe limitedior restricted to mechanical and functional expressions in forms or embodiments of a knee, saddle and table assembly. de-

signed for and adapted to milling machines of the horizontal spindle type, as the invention has broad and general adaptability for use with milling machines of various types, including the vertical spindle types, as well as to machine tools or similar or analogous machines generally where it is desired to provide a compact knee, saddle and table assembly of the power fed type for,

effecting movement of a work supporting element or'table relative to. a cutting tool or equivalent working element. And further attention is here directed to the fact thatthe invention includes variousfeatures in design, arrangement and construction of the knee,saddle and work table components of the assembly which are not limited or restricted to embodiment insuch an assembly of the power fed type, but which are adapted to and intended for embodiment in such an assembly where the knee, saddle and table components are hand fed. Certain of the features and characteristics of the knee and its mounting, of the saddle and its mounting, and of "the table and its mounting, and of the feeds and controls there for, are also of independent utility and may be applied to knee, saddles and tables and feeds and controls, respectively, as individual features.

The example form and embodiment of the invention and its various features as applied to and incorporated in a milling machine of the horizontal spindle type, is illustrated in Fig. l ofqthe drawings. The horizontal spindle milling machine of the selected example, includes a vertical column structure Iii mounted on and being extended upwardly from a horizontal, forwardly extended base 'I l. The vertical column structure In mounts in the upper portion thereof a horizontal spindle [2, which is exposed in the usual manner at the forward side of the 

